RCB Qualifies to Play-Offs...

I was never a fan of RCB. It is mainly the attitude of Virat Kohli. I see him as a bad influence for other players in his team in the attitude department. And on the other hand, he has every right to show off like that. My roommate Banuka is a die-hard RCB and Virat Kohli fan. And I really enjoyed making jokes about the RCB losing.

RCB did very well not to qualify for play-offs since the auction. See what kind of players they bought, wasting crores of rupees, but they didn't perform well. Alzzari Joseph is the best example. So is Glenn Maxwell. They didn't have a good bowling lineup, so even if they scored 300, there was a bowling unit that could give 301 away.

That's what happened at the first half of the tournament. They were at the bottom of the point table, battling with Mumbai Indians for the bottom position. But then something changed. Players like Yash Dayal were carrying a huge burden bowling in powerplay, going for more than 15rpo. But something changed afterwards.

Glenn Maxwell was consistently failing. So they brought Will Jacks to the playing 11 and played match-winning innings for them. Cameron Green also got into the action, proving he is worthy of the money spent. As always, Kohli, Faf and Patidar strengthen the top-order scoring big.

After losing 6 out of first 7 matches, they won the next 5 matches like a miracle. Even their 6th match vs KKR, they lost it by 1 run. If that hadn't happened, RCB would've gone to the play-offs easily. then, the drama like today wasn't required. Who would've thought that RCB could win 6 matches in a row. May be my friend, Banuka.

So, talking about last night, CSK bowled decently in the first half but sixes were raining in the last few overs. thakur went for 61 runs in his 4 overs. Maheesh bowled well, giving only 25 runs in his 4 overs. Surprisingly, Jadeja was hit badly. Didn't even bowl 4 overs. At the end, RCB scored 218/5 thanks to the valuable contributions by the top order.

This match was all about Net Run Rate (NRR) for CSK. They didn't require the win to qualify. RCB needed the win because they were low in points. CSK required 201 in their 20 overs to qualify. Starting from the first ball wicket of Gaikwad, the powerplay wasn't good for them.

After losing 2 wickets, Rahane and Rachin brought some hope. But with the fall of four quick wickets, the favors shifted. Then again, it was Jadeja and MS Dhoni in the crease. They played well and managed to bring the score up to the level of requiring 35 runs in the last 2 overs for qualification. Thanks to the no-ball by Ferguson, CSK scored 18 runs in 19th over.

And now, it is the final over time. Yash Dayal is the bowler. 16 runs to defend and qualify for RCB. And he bowls a full-toss around less and Dhoni hits it out of the ground. I don't know what went through his mind, but he recovered from it sending Dhoni to the pavilion from the very next ball. And the rest is history.

RCB was always playing the game at a different level. It feels great to hope they lose matches, even if they win. Who knows.. Maybe they'll hold on to the trophy, just like the WPL RCB team did.. Let's see..